Pǔjì 普濟
Sobriquet Dàchuān 大川 (“Great River”). Southern Sòng Chán monk, abbot of Língyǐnsì 靈隱寺 in Línglín 臨安 (modern Hángzhōu) and subsequently of Jìngzhōu Yúnjūsì 境州雲居寺. Dharma heir of Yún’ān Pǔyán 運庵普巖 (1156–1226) in the Línjì 臨濟 — Yángqí 楊岐 — Dàhuì 大慧 line. Lifedates 1178–1253 (standard figures; the exact birth year is given as 1179 in some Chinese sources, likely a lunar/Gregorian-calendar inconsistency).
Compiler of the Wǔdēng huìyuán 五燈會元 (KR6q0012) and its table of contents (KR6q0011), completed in 1252 — the great Southern Sòng synthesis of the five preceding Chán lamp records, and the principal transmitted authority for Chán historical narrative through the mid-thirteenth century.
name: 普濟 pinyinName: Pǔjì alternateNames: [Fusai Zenkyū, 普濟善救, Pǔjì Shànjiù, 普濟, Fusai, 善救, Zenkyū] dynasty: 日本 birthDate: 1347 deathDate: 1408 cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId: created: 2026-05-12 updated: 2026-05-12
Fusai Zenkyū 普濟善救 (Jōwa 3 / Shōhei 2 → 1347; Ōei 15 / 1408), Late-Nanbokuchō / early-Muromachi Japanese Sōtō-Zen master in the Sōji-ji line. Style-name (字) Fusai 普濟 (“Universal-Salvation”); dharma-name Zenkyū 善救 (“Good-Rescue”). Native of Echizen 越前 province (modern Fukui).
Tonsured young; received transmission from 寂靈 Tsūgen Jakurei (1322–1391), one of 峨山 Gasan Jōseki’s goteki and the founder of the Tsūgen-ha sub-lineage. Fusai is therefore a fifth-generation Sōji-ji-line Sōtō master in the Dōgen → Ejō → Gikai → Keizan → Gasan → Tsūgen → Fusai sequence.
Successively abbot of:
- Taigen-zan Shōkō-ji 太原山聖興寺 (entered Meitoku 4 / 1393-11), his early major abbacy in Echizen.
- Mount Shogaku-zan Sōji-ji 諸嶽山總持寺 in Noto (later abbacy), where he succeeded as fifth-generation abbot of the head temple.
His recorded sayings, the Fusai oshō goroku 普濟和尚語録 (KR6t0300), edited by his disciple Zen’yū 禪雄, preserve his abbatial sermons at both temples and are an important source for the late-fourteenth-century Sōji-ji-line consolidation. He is also the principal editor-figure of his master Tsūgen Jakurei’s recorded sayings (KR6t0298) — though the printed manroku edition by Geppa Dōin in 1675 derives only indirectly from Fusai’s original compilation through three centuries of manuscript transmission.